Dog the Bounty Hunter is mourning a loss no one ever hopes to endure.
The television personality’s wife Beth Chapman has died following a battle with throat cancer. She was 51.
“It’s 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain. Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven,” Dog tweeted, confirming his wife’s passing. “We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side.”
An attorney for the Chapman Family also tells E! News, “Sadly, Beth passed away a little while ago.”
Her passing comes soon after news broke that Beth was placed in a medically induced coma over the weekend at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu.
“Beth is one of the strongest people I’ve ever known, and if anyone can beat this, it’s her,” the family’s agent said in a statement. “No matter what happens, she and the family have placed all of their hope, faith, and trust in God. Other than that, I’d just ask that all of her and Duane’s fans keep Beth and the entire family in their prayers.”
“Please say your prayers for Beth right now,” Dog tweeted. “Thank you love you.”
While in the hospital, Dog shared a gut wrenching, close-up photo of Beth’s hand while she laid in bed. “You all know how she is about HER NAILS !!” he captioned the picture, which captured her signature bedazzled manicure. The snap showed the IV in her hand and medical bands around her wrist.
Beth learned her cancer had returned in November 2018. At the time, Chapman had been cancer free for more than a year when she was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital and underwent emergency surgery to remove a tumor that was reportedly obstructing her breathing. Family attorney Andrew Brettler shared with E! News at the time, “I understand that the situation is very serious. We are all concerned for her and the well-being of her family.”
Days later, Beth and Dog (whose real name is Duane Chapman) returned home to Colorado, where they were met by an outpouring of love and support from friends and family.
“Another bend in the road yet not the end of the road,” Beth captioned a photo of herself and Dog in the hospital.
Their long journey began in September 2017, when the couple revealed she was diagnosed with stage II throat cancer. Beth allowed cameras to document her health journey in an emotional, two-hour A&E special titled Dog & Beth: Fight of Their Lives. Following a 13-hour surgery, where doctors removed a tumor the size of a plum as well as her lymph nodes, the reality TV star was declared cancer-free.
AKM-GSI
“We cannot let this experience tear us apart,” she shared with her family as cameras rolled. “We need to bring us together. If this is the worst of it, then all it can be is better.”
Two months later, Beth told InTouch Weekly she was in “good condition” and advised to speak no more than 15 minutes per hour. Additionally, she was working to keep her stress levels low, explaining, “[My doctor] said stress is the No. 1 contributor to cancer, so while [I’m] trying to recover from it, [I] need to keep all of those things away from you. Part of me feels it’s hard to believe that I had it, part of me thinks it’s hard to believe it’s gone.”
Dog and Beth were together for 16 years before marrying in 2006. The Hawaii ceremony took place one day after Dog’s daughter, 23-year-old Barbara Katy Chapman, was killed in a car accident in Alaska.
The couple rose to fame when they appeared on their A&E show Dog the Bounty Hunter for eight seasons until 2012. They then briefly appeared on CMT’s Dog and Beth: On the Hunt.
Our thoughts go out to the Chapman family at this time.